Amarillo athletes headline 41-member class for WT

AMARILLO — The future of West Texas A&M football was unveiled Wednesday as the Buffs announced a signing-day class of 41 — including four Amarillo-area players who caught the eyes of WT coaches.

WT head coach Don Carthel praised his latest class, which could grow in the coming days as more letters-of-intent trickle into Canyon.

“We pretty much stayed in Texas this year with our high school recruits,” Carthel said. “I’m really proud of the Panhandle-area guys that we got. We targeted four as our top recruits, and we got three of them to sign with us.”

Carthel said the Buffs are hopeful of landing one more Amarillo-area recruit.

WT also hit the larger metropolitan areas in the state, inking 12 players from the Houston area and nine from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Carthel said Baker was impressive during a Buffs summer camp, and Sheppard has the athletic ability to play quickly. The Buffs like Sorrells’ wrestling skills and his ability to play inside or outside linebacker, and Toliver “is a tremendous athlete” who could play safety, Carthel said.

Sorrells, who was voted the District 2-5A defensive player of the year, was a Texas Sports Writers Association Class 5A all-state third-team selection. He led the Sandies with 123 tackles in the regular season.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Sorrells said. “I feel like I established myself at Amarillo High with this coaching staff. I hope to develop as a player at a place I’m going to be for four years.”

If all goes well, Sorrells and Sheppard could go from being 2-5A rivals to being on the field together. Sheppard was a second-team all-district selection at defensive end.

It wasn’t until he started high school that Sheppard realized how much he wanted to play football.

“I’ve always liked basketball, but when I started getting into football my freshman year I started thinking I wanted to play it in college,” Sheppard said. “(The WT coaching staff) told me I’ll be on the scout team and see how I progress over the summer. If I progress they’ll have me playing up with the big team.”

The position breakdown of WT’s class: four quarterbacks; four running backs; five tight ends; one kicker/punter; six wide receivers; seven defensive backs; four offensive linemen; five defensive linemen and five linebackers.

“We got a good variety there, and it turned out the way we hoped it would,” Carthel said. “Four of the six guys we targeted (on the defensive line) we actually signed,” Carthel said. “The two that got away went Division I. I think we did a very good job in that area.”

Carthel said defensive tackle LaPear Willrich of Giddings could play “pretty early.”

Odessa Permian quarterback Kacey Ryan, one of four signal-callers signed Wednesday, won the first Gene Mayfield Endowed Scholarship Award.

The scholarship, organized by WT boosters, is named in honor of the late Mayfield, a former WT quarterback who coached the Buffs from 1971-76 and ranks seventh in career victories (24). As a high school coach, Mayfield took four teams to the state championship game (1962 Borger, 1965, 1968, 1970 Odessa Permian.) Mayfield, who died in October 2009, was inducted into the WT Hall of Champions in 1988.